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After the qualification match for the 2008 European Championship against France, the head coach of the Lithuanian national team, Algimantas Liubinskas, had no serious complaints about the team's performance and admitted that his players lacked skill and luck in the duel with such a strong opponent.
"We played against the world vice-champions, each of whom plays for good clubs. We put up what we had against them, but the reality is that three amateur-level players were in our team. The tactics were chosen correctly, and the players implemented it fundamentally, but when playing against a team like France, you also need luck, which we lacked today," A. Liubinskas said.
The coach acknowledged that it was unrealistic to expect to beat a team like France: "Maybe we were worthy opponents, but I want to congratulate the French national team on their victory. We could set a goal to beat the world vice-champions, but realistically we cannot do that today, and the goal was primarily not to lose."
"Maybe substitutions should have been made earlier, but you can never accurately predict how one player or another will perform. Those who played for a half did their task well. I chose the best players I had, and they gave their all, but realistically they lacked skill," the strategist analyzed his work.
A. Liubinskas also hinted that in the episode where the French scored a goal, goalkeeper Žydrūnas Karčemarskas didn't play very successfully: "You cannot let in such goals, it's an amateur-level goal. You cannot allow the ball to roll into the net. But the goalkeeper is just part of the team, we lost not because of him, the whole team lost."
The Lithuanian national team coach also complained about the lack of options before the match: "All the 'Hearts' players arrived injured. Regarding Andrius Velička, I can ask when was the last time he played well for the national team? In general, I think the Scottish championship is not of a higher level than, for example, the Czech one."
"We pushed Marius Stankevičius to the edge of the safety line not out of choice, but he played well, he was active. We select players from those who are healthy and fit into the tactics depending on the opponents. Vidas Alunderis left a good impression, but didn't play because there was no one for him to replace. Andrius Skerla and Tomas Žvirgždauskas have played many matches together in the central defender positions and have mutual understanding," A. Liubinskas explained.
According to the Lithuanian national team strategist, there probably won't be any significant changes before the Wednesday match against Ukraine: "There could be changes only by calling up players from the Lithuanian league, we don't have anything else. Today the team played disciplined, I think they deserve to move forward. Maybe it didn't work out today, but next time we might succeed and win in Ukraine."
